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eleventh installment

The lorry turned into what seemed like barracks and everyone got out, it seemed that they were all heading for the canteen so I followed.Inside it was full, I saw Alan and a few of the others, after getting some food I went and sat down with them. They asked me where I had been they told me that we were to have three days off and everyone who had somewhere in Osijek go, Alan and I were two that didn't, they brought new clothes and boots and put them in the middle of the room, I went and took what I needed and returned to Alan who had already taken what he needed. Someone told us where we could sleep, so off we went to find our well needed beds but before I could sleep I needed to take a shower which I hoped would warm me up, it would definitely make me feel better, I finished and went back to the room where I found Alan already asleep dressed in the same clothes that he had left Laslovo in, he must have been totally exhausted as was I but I had had a shower and put some clean clothes on before I could lay down on the mattress and pull the blankets over my head in order to sleep hoping to feel safe. There was no way really that I would be able to sleep for what was left of the night, I kept going over what had happened since the same time yesterday, the shelling, the bullets and the dead I especially thought about Eric and weather he was alive or dead, I thought about Laslovo which had been my home now being used by the scum of the earth, chetniks. If we had left a couple of days earlier then everyone would still be alive, everyone who defended Laslovo had done their job better than could have been expected although they had fought with their hearts not their brains, they had fought because it was their duty to keep their home village Laslovo free, it was now in the grip of communism, would we be able to take it back somehow I doubted it. How long would it be before they reached Osijek itself, how long before the inhabitants of this city would have to defend it like the people of Laslovo had done, how long could Croatia last as a free country, only time would tell. That night one of the men who spoke english told me that during the time that they had defended Laslovo about sixteen soldiers and eleven civilians had died if that was the actual figure, maybe more we wouldn't know until Laslovo was once again a part of Croatia when that would be no one could even hazard a guess. There had been two groups which had evacuated Laslovo, one had about eighty people and had left an hour before we did, I had been in the main group of about one hundred and ninety, these were the only soldiers and civilians to leave Laslovo alive. 

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Ninth installment

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